Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Max MacCloud, DO, ND, PhD aka The Nutrition Ninja
Founder & Director of the Age Reversal Technology Center (ARTC.health) & MyBodySymphony.com
Arthritis is at epidemic proportions, negatively impacting over 50% of America’s seniors and many of the younger generations as well.
What is arthritis, what causes it, what can be done to effectively treat it? These are some of the topics we’ll touch on in this relatively brief article.
What is Arthritis?
According to the Mayo Clinic, that bastion of modern medical knowledge. ‘Arthritis is the swelling and tenderness of one or more joints. The main symptoms of arthritis are joint pain and stiffness, which typically worsen with age. The most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis causes cartilage to break down. Cartilage is the hard, slippery tissue that covers the ends of bones, thereby protecting them and allowing them to slide with minimal friction. Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease in which the immune system attacks the joints, beginning with the lining of joints.’
When someone has ‘arthritis’, their joints can feel painful, swollen, and stiff. This can make it hard to move around and do everyday activities like walking, writing, or playing sports. There is often inflammation with signs of abnormal calcium deposits on the ends of the bones.
What Causes Arthritis?
There are different types of arthritis, amazingly, there are up to 100 different types, and each can have different causes. The common denominators are joint pain, stiffness, and calcium deposits, often with inflammation. The bottom line is that modern, conventional medical science simply has no clear understanding of arthritis!
My 45 years of clinical practice and studies in both conventional and progressive medicine lead me to believe that arthritis is really quite simple to understand. It is simply damage to one or more joints along with the body’s incomplete or failed attempts to repair that damage. The initial damage may be due to either a single traumatic injury or multiple, smaller, repetitive motion injuries. Of course, excess body weight, high impact activities, and numerous other factors also contribute to the development and severity of one’s arthritic symptoms and joint damage.
Remember, the body is self-healing, or at least it is supposed to be when properly functioning. Injuries are a part of life, and we heal most injuries quite well. Healing efficiency is a function of serval things including overall health, nutritional status, BLOOD flow to the damaged area, stem cell health & numbers (all healing is regulated by stem cells), and protein synthesis efficiency. The limiting factor impairing healing of injuries in most cases is simply blood supply to the damaged tissues.
The primary damage in the case of most joint injuries is to the connective tissues that stabilize the joint and those that allow for movement. The ligaments are the strong, dense structures that hold our bones in close proximity to one another while allowing limited movement when acted upon by the tendons that are connected to our muscles. Tendons are the other major connective tissues that become damaged.
Our bodies naturally try to repair the damage to our ligaments and tendons; however, those structures have very poor blood supply due to their dense nature. The research clearly shows that once damaged (sprained or strained, respectively) ligaments and tendons simply do not heal back to the preinjury strength and length.
This leads to the joint being LESS stable than before leading to increased joint ‘play’ or movement. Nerve sensors send these messages to the brain which in turn sends messages to the surrounding muscles to tighten up in its attempts to protect the joint. Muscles are not meant to stay in such a state of chronic contraction as this further restricts blood flow leading to pain, inflammation, and joint degeneration.
That, my friends, is exactly what arthritis is in a nutshell. Of course, there are additional, contributing factors depending on the type of arthritis, such as an abnormal immune response leading to further damage in rheumatoid arthritis.
Why is it more common in older people? Over time there are more opportunities to inflict damage on the ligaments & tendons of our joints. As we age, we lose viable stem cells which are what regulate ALL healing and repair. Many other things also decline with age including microcirculation, mitochondrial function, metabolic balance, and metabolic reserve. Our body’s ability to synthesize protein also declines and proteins are what compose the primary structures of our body including our joints.
How Many People Are Affected?
Arthritis is very common, and it can affect people of all ages, including kids. In fact, millions of people around the world have arthritis. Even though it’s more common in older adults, affecting over 50% of those over 65, young people develop it too.
What Are the Impacts of Arthritis?
Arthritis can significantly impact one’s quality of life. It affects mobility, daily activities, and overall well-being. It often interferes with one’s quality of life and begins a steady decline in overall health.
What are Effective Treatments?
Modern, conventional medicine has no cure or good treatments for arthritis. How could they since they can’t agree on what causes it? As is often the case, there are a number of Band-Aid type approaches including medications to reduce pain and inflammation, gentle exercise, physical therapy, healthier eating & reducing weight, and the use of various assistive devices like braces, supports, canes, and scooters.
Here’s Our Approach; It is Very Different!
We begin with a comprehensive history of and physical examination of the affected joint(s). Invariably, there will be findings of damage to key connective tissue structures.
Next, we devise a plan to address the damage, present that plan, then implement it at your agreement and direction.
That plan typically consists of 1. Stimulating your body to repair the damage using Regenerative Injection Therapy. 2. Supporting the repair using our exclusive Wolverine Healing Protocol. This consists of proper nutritional support, joint decompression therapy, shockwave therapy, muscle & joint reeducation, and photo biomodulation therapy (using special frequencies of light).
The goal of this plan is to restore joint integrity and health. It works extremely well.
If you suffer from Arthritis and are tired of the ineffective, Band-Aid approaches, we can help. Call 941-806-5511 to schedule an initial consultation & exam.
Make an appointment today!
Age Reversal Technology Center, LLC
(941) 806-5511
artc.health
3226 Clark Rd. Sarasota, FL 34231
